Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502160014
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
CCA Business Development Director Dana Moore denied a television report that work was on hold. She said construction of the prison buildings may not be under way by March as planned, but only because details such as the location of road and bridge access are being worked out.
State Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore has said that some 3,500 private prison beds will be under contract in Virginia by July 1, including 1,500 medium-security beds. CCA plans to build a 1,500-bed, medium-security prison.
Kilgore, in comments last week to Wythe County officials, said a request for proposals on private prisons would not go out until the General Assembly session is over. But Moore said CCA is not worried about losing to competitors.
``We know we're the only private corrections company that can come up with $40 million to put into a piece of property,'' she said. That is the estimated cost of building the prison. Moore said CCA anticipates buying the 533-acre site about two miles east of Wytheville well before its option expires in May.
Kilgore told five members of the county Board of Supervisors in Richmond last Friday, along with County Administrator Billy Branson and Wytheville Town Manager Wayne Sutherland, that a private, 1,500-bed unit would house Virginia's most manageable prisoners. Those prisoners would be classified for retraining to return to society, he said.
A written record of the conversation was made available Tuesday at a Board of Supervisors meeting.
Kilgore said at least six companies have expressed interest in bidding when the request for proposals goes out. He said private prisons in Virginia would be operated under state guidelines and monitored by corrections officials.
If a private-prison inmate escapes, he said, the state will take charge of recapturing the prisoner just as it does at the existing 41 state-owned prisons.
Three or more busloads of Wythe prison opponents will go to Richmond today. Representatives of the group plan to meet with Kilgore; a representative of Attorney General Jim Gilmore; state Sen. Jack Reasor, D-Bluefield; and Del. Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville.
One of the opponents, former Del. Chuck Lacy, addressed Wytheville Town Council on Monday night. Lacy is resigning as attorney for the county's Public Service Authority, saying he did not feel right about taking pay from county officials with whom he disagrees on this issue.
He urged council to consider the wishes of residents who oppose the prison when deciding whether to extend water and sewer lines to the prison. There is no reason why Wytheville must be first in Virginia to try a private prison, he said.
Sutherland, the town manager, said CCA engineers have looked into the location of town utility lines but have made no request for extending them to the prison site. Because the prison will use 200,000 gallons of water a day and Wytheville has a 50 percent surcharge on water used outside its corporate limits, he said, CCA may find it more economical to build its own water and sewer facilities.
``I've spent more time on it than anything since I've been here,'' Councilman Jimmy Gleaves said of the prison. ``And it hasn't even gotten to us yet.''
But it has reached the county supervisors, who voted 4-3 at a special meeting Feb.1 to welcome it.
The vote was taken in a high school auditorium filled with hundreds of people opposed to the prison, and followed a report by supervisors Olin Armentrout and Charles Dix on favorable comments they got on a CCA minimum-security prison when they visited Cleveland, Texas.
Supervisors' Chairman Mark Munsey had appointed Armentrout, Dix and Branson to visit CCA headquarters in Nashville and gather information on the company.
Afterward, they flew to Texas, at CCA expense, and met with Cleveland school, hospital, civic and other officials as well as community residents.
Now, petitions are being circulated seeking the removal of Armentrout and Dix, charging that they misused their office by having CCA pay for their trip and by talking with community residents brought to them by a bank president chosen by CCA. The petitions can be submitted to Circuit Court if signed by 10 percent of the county's registered voters.
At Tuesday's board meeting, prison supporter Bernice Shook called on Supervisor Mark Munsey - who voted against the Feb.1 motion - to resign as board chairman.
``These gentlemen did as you instructed them and took pains to bring back accurate and honest information,'' she said. ``However, since this information was not to your liking, you have turned your back on them. . . . If anybody should be recalled, it is you.''
by CNB